"Koefoed also noted that the operating system from Palm and Research in Motion both have their own set of development challenges, " Barnicle writes.
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Android operating system, as well as Research In Motion Ltd.
Android is the number one operating system in North America, while Apple overtook Research in Motion in November.
Android in recent years leapfrogged the iPhone to become the No. 1 operating system for smartphones globally, according to several research firms.
The protection this affords to Android should help the spread of the operating system, which according to Gartner, a research and consulting firm, powered just over half of all smartphones sold in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Earlier this year, the company introduced the Treo 700w, running Microsoft 's Windows Mobile operating system, aimed at the enterprise market already hooked on Research in Motion's BlackBerry devices.
Dataquest, a San Jose research firm, also predicts big things the operating system, saying Linux will account for almost a quarter of worldwide server appliance revenue by the year 2003.
In May, Microsoft announced that it had a new research program under way, aimed at developing an operating system and software development tools for robots.
The company is winding down their smartphone business, where they found they couldn't compete with Apple, Google, and Research in Motion, which dominate the device and operating system markets.
Any advancements made by Research in Motion and the release of its BB10 operating system will only increase the pressure on Microsoft to execute, but this could be both good and bad.
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In May, Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) announced that it had a new research program under way, aimed at developing an operating system and software development tools for robots.
According to research firm IDC, the iPhone and its iOS operating system make up 16.9% of the worldwide smartphone market, coming in behind the cluster of phones running the Android operating system, which account for 68.1% of the world's smartphones.
"The Rise of the Industry Operating System", by Tom Berquist et al. Goldman Sachs Global Equity Research, November 2000.
Meanwhile, Research In Motion is about to introduce its BlackBerry 10 operating system and fresh devices later this month, bringing another updated rival into the smartphone fray.
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According to one research paper, the revenues generated by the system exceed its operating costs by almost 80 percent.
According to NPD, Android was the operating system on 33% of all smartphones purchased in the second quarter, followed by Research In Motion at 28% and Apple's iOS at 22%.
Their joint research and development body, CableLabs, has written specifications for an operating system and chosen a number of software languages in which applications software for the boxes may be written.
But a recent study from the technology research group IDC suggests that Android phones - and in particular their operating system - are fast gaining ground, with their OS now owning 52% of the Indonesian market.
Android, the No. 3 mobile operating system in the U.S. as of October, is quickly gaining on Apple and Research In Motion Ltd.
Research In Motion this morning announced the release of an updated version of the operating system software for the PlayBook tablet: Playbook OS 2.0.
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The research firm International Data Corp. believes Windows 8 is so confusing that the new operating system has deepened a yearlong decline in the sales of personal computers, which aren't being replaced as frequently as more people embrace smartphones and tablets.
"Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010, " said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.
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